**** Official 2023-24 NHL Thread ****

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Monticore

English Pro hockey is pretty much a glorified recreational men’s league , going to be a skill gap and try hards with no skill are the most dangerous type of hockey players .

That's where I kept getting to.

We've played with guys like that in basketball or baseball (and if you haven't, you were that guy). I get playing with energy and intensity, I respect it. But to a point. You can't be the guy throwing 80 mph behind a girl that's strayed too far off 1b in co-ed rec league softball. You miss by a little bit and suddenly 'playing hard' leaves a girl in the neurology ward overnight because you didn't throw it where you meant to. Know the situation, know your talent level and don't get people hurt.

This is just a guy who was barely on the fringes of the bottom rung of hockey; essentially semi-pro shit. Who was out there mucking it up and being a goon when he really didn't have much else to offer.

If anyone is to 'blame' it's the guys that rostered a guy like him.

I tried to explain it along these lines "Okay, think of the worst player in the NHL - that guy's better than 90% of say the AHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the AHL. Now think of the worst player in the AHL - THAT guy is better than 90% of the ECHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the ECHL. Now think of the worst guy in the ECHL - if he can't make an ECHL team, he MIGHT end up in the Elite League. If he didn't get a call back from a a more lucrative european/russian league. That's the caliber of talent you're seeing in the EIHL here.

Put it this way - if you lived in a northern state, Matt Pegrave wouldn't be the best skater you know.

A more skilled player just doesn't do that, IMO.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

That's where I kept getting to.

We've played with guys like that in basketball or baseball (and if you haven't, you were that guy). I get playing with energy and intensity, I respect it. But to a point. You can't be the guy throwing 80 mph behind a girl that's strayed too far off 1b in co-ed rec league softball. You miss by a little bit and suddenly 'playing hard' leaves a girl in the neurology ward overnight because you didn't throw it where you meant to. Know the situation, know your talent level and don't get people hurt.

This is just a guy who was barely on the fringes of the bottom rung of hockey; essentially semi-pro shit. Who was out there mucking it up and being a goon when he really didn't have much else to offer.

If anyone is to 'blame' it's the guys that rostered a guy like him.

I tried to explain it along these lines "Okay, think of the worst player in the NHL - that guy's better than 90% of say the AHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the AHL. Now think of the worst player in the AHL - THAT guy is better than 90% of the ECHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the ECHL. Now think of the worst guy in the ECHL - if he can't make an ECHL team, he MIGHT end up in the Elite League. If he didn't get a call back from a a more lucrative european/russian league. That's the caliber of talent you're seeing in the EIHL here.

Put it this way - if you lived in a northern state, Matt Pegrave wouldn't be the best skater you know.

A more skilled player just doesn't do that, IMO.

Being one of the few guys in my oldtimers league who can carry the puck is getting pretty scary when you have 240 lbs guys flying around the ice that haven’t skated in 10 years really wanting to get the puck off me and not to mention the the other boneheads on my own team with zero ****ing clue where they are going , it’s like frogger on skates , retrieving a puck in a corner not knowing if the guy behind you will lose an edge or poke check my skates from under me is scary .

It’s why I wear a full cage and shoulder pads , we had two of these guys ram each other face first with no cage s on last week , after one guy got his stitches I think he got the point and quit

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Monticore

Being one of the few guys in my oldtimers league who can carry the puck is getting pretty scary when you have 240 lbs guys flying around the ice that haven’t skated in 10 years really wanting to get the puck off me and not to mention the the other boneheads on my own team with zero ****ing clue where they are going , it’s like frogger on skates , retrieving a puck in a corner not knowing if the guy behind you will lose an edge or poke check my skates from under me is scary .

It’s why I wear a full cage and shoulder pads , we had two of these guys ram each other face first with no cage s on last week , after one guy got his stitches I think he got the point and quit

Hell, I've done flag football beer leagues and even that can be a bit dangerous when dude is living out their HS football dreams... much less guys on skates.

Granted, I did some light roller hockey years ago and hockey pads are amazing... I'd run into someone who outweighed me by like 60 pounds, plant myself to the ground, and get right up and keep going while they stood there and wondered if they had just murdered me. It was pretty much just ****ing around on skates though, nothing even a little competitive to worry about people taking it to seriously.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

That's where I kept getting to.

We've played with guys like that in basketball or baseball (and if you haven't, you were that guy). I get playing with energy and intensity, I respect it. But to a point. You can't be the guy throwing 80 mph behind a girl that's strayed too far off 1b in co-ed rec league softball. You miss by a little bit and suddenly 'playing hard' leaves a girl in the neurology ward overnight because you didn't throw it where you meant to. Know the situation, know your talent level and don't get people hurt.

This is just a guy who was barely on the fringes of the bottom rung of hockey; essentially semi-pro shit. Who was out there mucking it up and being a goon when he really didn't have much else to offer.

If anyone is to 'blame' it's the guys that rostered a guy like him.

I tried to explain it along these lines "Okay, think of the worst player in the NHL - that guy's better than 90% of say the AHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the AHL. Now think of the worst player in the AHL - THAT guy is better than 90% of the ECHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the ECHL. Now think of the worst guy in the ECHL - if he can't make an ECHL team, he MIGHT end up in the Elite League. If he didn't get a call back from a a more lucrative european/russian league. That's the caliber of talent you're seeing in the EIHL here.

Put it this way - if you lived in a northern state, Matt Pegrave wouldn't be the best skater you know.

A more skilled player just doesn't do that, IMO.

The try hard guys in basketball are just the worst. Especially in my younger days when I could dunk. They were always the bastards who screwed that by trying to take you out.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

That's where I kept getting to.

We've played with guys like that in basketball or baseball (and if you haven't, you were that guy). I get playing with energy and intensity, I respect it. But to a point. You can't be the guy throwing 80 mph behind a girl that's strayed too far off 1b in co-ed rec league softball. You miss by a little bit and suddenly 'playing hard' leaves a girl in the neurology ward overnight because you didn't throw it where you meant to. Know the situation, know your talent level and don't get people hurt.

This is just a guy who was barely on the fringes of the bottom rung of hockey; essentially semi-pro shit. Who was out there mucking it up and being a goon when he really didn't have much else to offer.

If anyone is to 'blame' it's the guys that rostered a guy like him.

I tried to explain it along these lines "Okay, think of the worst player in the NHL - that guy's better than 90% of say the AHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the AHL. Now think of the worst player in the AHL - THAT guy is better than 90% of the ECHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the ECHL. Now think of the worst guy in the ECHL - if he can't make an ECHL team, he MIGHT end up in the Elite League. If he didn't get a call back from a a more lucrative european/russian league. That's the caliber of talent you're seeing in the EIHL here.

Put it this way - if you lived in a northern state, Matt Pegrave wouldn't be the best skater you know.

A more skilled player just doesn't do that, IMO.

Ya it’s hard to explain even to hockey dads the gap that exists at each level , we got the dads together to play my sons u18 rep team which consisted of about 10 kids that had played at AAA at some point , dads team consisted of 45-50 years most who had not played in years but it included 3 OHL draftee , 10 that had played some level of junior and few that could have , they kids never touched the puck lol , those same dads playing against retired NHL players would suffer the same fate.

My friend was 7 round LA kings draft pick , 1 round OHL , only played 1 year of professional hockey in Waco , hey at least he centred a line at kings training camp between Gretzky and Kuri .